Tue, Apr 29, 2003
ISS Gets First Visitors This Year
It's lonely up there, with just two other humans
to play with. Now that the Soyuz has docked with the International
Space Station, it's just a few hats short of a full-fledged party.
They'll probably get to watch a "moonset" (as photographed,
right, in composite by astronaut Don Pettit) several times a
day, as it can be seen only from Space -- no clouds).
Monday, aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition
Six crew welcomed its first visitors in more than four months.
After a successful docking, the hatches between the station and the
Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft were opened and Expedition Seven Commander
Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu entered the ISS
at 2:27 a.m. CDT (0727 GMT).
They
were welcomed by Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight
Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit,
who have working been aboard the orbital outpost since November 25,
2002. Docking occurred at 12:56 a.m. CDT (0556 GMT) as the two
spacecraft sailed over Kazakhstan in central Asia.
Three to Beam Down
The two crews will conduct joint operations this week. Among
their handover activities, Expedition Six crewmembers will brief
the new crew about ongoing science and station maintenance
activities. On Saturday, Expedition Six will depart the station and
return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft, ending a
longer-than-planned stay, extended by the Columbia
disaster and investigation.
Malenchenko and Lu (pictured) are the first people to visit
Expedition Six since STS-113 left the station on December 2, 2002.
They are the first humans to be launched into space since Space
Shuttle Columbia and the STS-107 crew were lost during
re-entry on February 1. Expedition Seven is slated to spend six
months aboard the station.
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